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Friday, June 17, 2005

The Meadows Golf Course, East St. Paul, Winnipeg

It was tough to find a place to golf today, with so many courses having tournaments on a Friday.

I opeted to try The Meadows, the newest 18-hole course in Winnipeg. Located at the junction of Highway 59 and the Perimeter, it's less than 30 minutes away.

The clubhouse is fairly small. Later on, we found out that they are renting the building and will construct a full-sized club house later.

As the name suggests, The Meadows appears to be carved out of a field - many of the holes are flat. We found the round tough due to the narrow landing areas. If you hit a really nice drive, chances are, you would still end up in the rough. Combine this with the fact that the course was busy and you end up with a frustrating 5 hour round. We're used to playing 18 holes in 3.5 hours. Spending that extra time waiting throws your game out of rhythm. I putted fairly well, mostly two-putting. The greens were in great shape. Some of the fairways were lacking in grass, but this was not to be unexpected. Towards the end of the round, there were some holes just begging for long drives, and I'm pleased to say that I delivered. I had some really nice 3-woods shots from the rough. The grass for these shots was logn but not thick. I was amazed at how my three wood ploughed through the grass and advanced the ball further than I would have, had I used an iron, like a 7 iron.

For $28, I was a tad disappointed. There are other courses that are cheaper and superior. The Meadows is billed as a championship course. In terms of length, I would agree. In terms of the difficulty, I suppose I would agree. But, compared to many of the other courses we regularly play, it's nothing special. There are no changes in elevation, for example. In a few years, it may be better, but for now, it's not a course that I will go out of my way to play again.

One of my playing partners brought along a new 460 cc Jazz driver. A friend of his one it in a tournament and is selling it for $40. My friend decided to try it out today. It's main benefit is the large sweet spot. I took a gentle swing with it and to be honest, it felt awkward. The head is almost comically large.